No. 6 Stingers shocked, then awe Redmen

Concordia’s men’s basketball team split their home and home series against the McGill Redmen. The Redmen pulled off a victory Friday, dealing the Stingers their first home loss of the season, but Concordia bounced back to take the second game.
In Friday’s match up, McGill’s clutch shooting and solid defense led them to a hard fought 93 – 82 win, only their second of the season. Offensively the Redmen found success by working the ball inside then passing it out to the open man. On the defensive end they went with a 1-3-1 zone set up; the strategy worked to perfection as Concordia’s offense never really got rolling.
The Redmen’s Michael White had a career night with a 22 point, 15 rebound double-double in 35 minutes of play. Defensively White was matched up against Concordia’s Jamal Gallier. Teammates Matthew Thornhill and Moustafa El Zanatay added 21 and 13 points respectively.
Stingers guard Dwayne Buckley struggled all night, shooting only three of 13 from the floor. Damian Buckley led all scorers with 29 points, nine assists and six rebounds. The Buckley’s have the skills to take games over but could not lift the Stingers past the Redmen despite their best efforts.
After the game, McGill coach Craig Norman said it was a game where everything seemed to work out.
“You can’t stop the Buckley’s, the best you can do is contain them. We did that tonight. When we had open looks we were making shots and our defense kept us ahead.” Norman played down his role in the victory. “All a coach can do is come up with a plan, it’s up to the players to execute. Even though we were up most of the game they still almost came back in the end, they just ran out of time tonight.”
Contrary to a report on the McGill Athletics website, Stingers forward Jamal Gallier had an above average night shooting five of eight for 10 points and adding eight boards. “I don’t know what game those people were watching,” said Stingers coach John Dore, “we went small to try and catch up, that’s not limited minutes it’s just smart basketball.”
The Stingers took the defeat and the report personally, especially Gallier, who was a major factor in their 82-69 win of McGill at Love Hall on Saturday night. The centerman led his team with 19 points and 17 boards, giving some credence to those McGill reports of a lackluster performance in the process.
Damian Buckley had another impressive performance with 18 points and six rebounds, while White led the Redmen with 19 points and 13 rebounds for a second straight double-double.
In Friday’s game the Redmen were able to forget about the Buckley’s and focus on playing team defense, but the brothers overwhelmed them in the rematch, as they hit all their open shots.
Up by only two points at the end of the third quarter, the Stingers exploded out of the gate in the fourth starting the quarter off with a 16-2 run over the first 4:03. The Redmen tried to come back in the game late, but Decee Krah came up big making six consecutive free throws in the final minutes to seal the victory.
The game was a messy affair, with hard fouls, words exchanged and blood drawn. There was an altercation in the tunnel to the change rooms after the game, but it happened out of sight and neither team would comment on the situation afterwards. The referees were not present for the ordeal so it remains to be seen whether there will be any disciplinary action.
After the game Gallier was visibly pumped. “After loosing at home and the stuff that was said in that article, coming away empty handed wasn’t an option.” The Stingers were in high spirits on their way back to the bus.
The Stingers play at home against the UQAM Citadins on Friday, Jan. 23 at 6:00 p.m. They then travel to UQAM Sunday, Jan. 24, for a game at 7:00 p.m.